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First win in the Grand Prix for Stefan Kraft
Stefan Kraft took the win in the first competition at the FIS Grand Prix in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The 4-Hills-Tournament winner showed jumps on 125 m and 130 m for a total of 307.6 points and won clearly ahead of Robert Kranjec and Ilmir Hazetdinov. It was his first ever win in the Grand Prix.
The Austrian said afterwards: "I like the hill here very much. It's my second time in Almaty, I enjoy being here and now I've already won here three times, twice in the COC and now in the GP. I hope that I can jump that well here also in winter. Recently I was focusing on training for a month. I'm in a very good shape and this win proves that. It's always difficult to win. The level was very high, but I had two perfect jumps. In the first round the conditions were difficult with the changing wind, but in the second round it was better. Jumping is a lot of fun for me right now and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Second-placed Robert Kranjec jumped on 123 m and 135 m (the longest jump of the day) and scored 293.1 points to achieve his already third podium result this summer. The Slovene said later: "This hill is very good to fly. And I like that a lot."
Ilmir Hazetdinov provided an unexpected success for Russia with his jumps on 123 m and 128 m. He missed the second place by only 0.4 points and achieved the by far best result of his career. Hazetdinov said: "I like this hill and I've been here often. I really enjoy it here and want to thank the organizers. Despite the difficult conditions it was a competition on a very high level."
Strong Japanese team
A total of five Japanese athletes came in between the places four to ten: Shohei Tochimoto finished on a very good fourth place with 123 m and 133 m and 289.1 points, only 0.1 points behind, Kento Sakuyama defended his overall lead in the Grand Prix with jumps on 124 m and 126 m. Yumu Harada confirmed his strong shape this summer in seventh with 287.5 points, Kenshiro Ito (286.5 points) and Junshiro Kobayashi (283.3 points) followed in ninth and tenth.
Under difficult conditions with up to 6 m/s side wind, also the Slovenes had a strong team result. Anze Semenic was sixth with 288.8 points and Anze Lanisek finished 8th with 287.2 points. Behind Denis Kornilov, Manuel Fettner and Jaka Hvala, Pascal Kaelin was the best Swiss in 14th. Harri Olli was the best of the Finnish team in 17th.
Points for Bresadola and Zhaparov
Italian Davide Bresadola in 22nd, Kazakh Radik Zhaparov in 24th and Korean Chil-Ku Kang in 29th could also score some Grand Prix points. 20-year-old German Tim Heinrich could score points in his first Grand Prix competition. He came in 27th.
Reruhi Shimizu qualified for the second round, but after a crash in the first round he did not take part in the final. The Japanese injured his knee and will undergo further medical examinations.
The second competition will be held on Sunday at 3:00 pm CET.
The Austrian said afterwards: "I like the hill here very much. It's my second time in Almaty, I enjoy being here and now I've already won here three times, twice in the COC and now in the GP. I hope that I can jump that well here also in winter. Recently I was focusing on training for a month. I'm in a very good shape and this win proves that. It's always difficult to win. The level was very high, but I had two perfect jumps. In the first round the conditions were difficult with the changing wind, but in the second round it was better. Jumping is a lot of fun for me right now and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Second-placed Robert Kranjec jumped on 123 m and 135 m (the longest jump of the day) and scored 293.1 points to achieve his already third podium result this summer. The Slovene said later: "This hill is very good to fly. And I like that a lot."
Ilmir Hazetdinov provided an unexpected success for Russia with his jumps on 123 m and 128 m. He missed the second place by only 0.4 points and achieved the by far best result of his career. Hazetdinov said: "I like this hill and I've been here often. I really enjoy it here and want to thank the organizers. Despite the difficult conditions it was a competition on a very high level."
Strong Japanese team
A total of five Japanese athletes came in between the places four to ten: Shohei Tochimoto finished on a very good fourth place with 123 m and 133 m and 289.1 points, only 0.1 points behind, Kento Sakuyama defended his overall lead in the Grand Prix with jumps on 124 m and 126 m. Yumu Harada confirmed his strong shape this summer in seventh with 287.5 points, Kenshiro Ito (286.5 points) and Junshiro Kobayashi (283.3 points) followed in ninth and tenth.
Under difficult conditions with up to 6 m/s side wind, also the Slovenes had a strong team result. Anze Semenic was sixth with 288.8 points and Anze Lanisek finished 8th with 287.2 points. Behind Denis Kornilov, Manuel Fettner and Jaka Hvala, Pascal Kaelin was the best Swiss in 14th. Harri Olli was the best of the Finnish team in 17th.
Points for Bresadola and Zhaparov
Italian Davide Bresadola in 22nd, Kazakh Radik Zhaparov in 24th and Korean Chil-Ku Kang in 29th could also score some Grand Prix points. 20-year-old German Tim Heinrich could score points in his first Grand Prix competition. He came in 27th.
Reruhi Shimizu qualified for the second round, but after a crash in the first round he did not take part in the final. The Japanese injured his knee and will undergo further medical examinations.
The second competition will be held on Sunday at 3:00 pm CET.
Source: fis-ski.com
